Savannah Dietrich had too much to drink at a party, and passed out. What she told newspapers happened next was horrific: two boys, both of whom she knew, sexually assaulted her, and took pictures while they were doing it. Then they shared those photographs with others. Fast forward to today, when the 17-year-old Dietrich may be facing jail time before her alleged assailants.
The reason the Kentucky teenager is facing a contempt charge is because she broadcasted the names of her attackers on social media after she learned that they plead guilty to lesser charges of felony sexual abuse and misdemeanor voyeurism, charges which she considered too lenient per the crime. So she took to Twitter:
“There you go, lock me up,” Savannah Dietrich tweeted, as she named the boys who she said sexually assaulted her. “I’m not protecting anyone that made my life a living Hell.”
The attorney for the boys, neither of whom have been sentenced, is asking a Jefferson District Court judge to hold her in contempt because, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, they say that in naming her attackers, she violated the confidentiality of a juvenile hearing and the court’s order not to speak of it. The charge carries a 180-day jail sentence and a $500 fine.
(For as much attention as that attorney wants to bring to Dietrich’s violation, it seems that they don’t want this publicized too much; they want the court order continued, barring Dietrich from speaking to the media, and they want to bar the media from covering the contempt hearing they requested.)
Amanda Hess, writing in Slate, specifically addressed the social-media angle of the story. She noted a dramatic step Dietrich took within the last 24 hours:
Last night, Dietrich unlocked her Facebook page to the hundreds of strangers—myself included—who have requested to make her a “friend.” They have flooded her wall with offers of financial support and links to Change.org petitions calling for justice in her case. Of course, Dietrich is also fielding spammy notes from strangers with dogs for avatars (“since they took pictures isn’t this child pornography?”) and all-caps rants about the sex offender registry.
But here, Dietrich is the editor of her own story. She has the power to delete the comments she doesn’t like and promote the ones she does. Thanks to a few brave tweets, a 17-year-old rape victim is now curating an international conversation about sexual assault in America.
Nation blogger and feminist author Jessica Valenti cites Hess while applauding the teenager’s choice in an aptly-named post called “How to Out a Rapist”:
So making the world more uncomfortable for rapists – letting them know that there will be consequences that include public shaming – is something I’m entirely at ease with. Especially considering how often women are silenced around issues of sexual assault…
Something tells me mugging victims have never been ordered not use the word “rob” when recounting the crime committed against them – but when it comes to sexual assault, logic and human decency always seem to go out the window…









